A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 5–9.
When the Golemworks in Magnimar starts reporting some “problems” with their most recent batch of golems, the PCs are sent to investigate in the hope that the Pathfinder Society can get on good terms with the influential arcane organization.
Written by Larry Wilhelm.
This scenario is designed for play in Pathfinder Society Organized Play, but can easily be adapted for use with any world. This scenario is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
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I played this scenario and Quentin, read his review below, was the GM. He’s been hyping Larry Wilhelm’s work for a while now and I can see why. This scenario combines rough combats with a creepy atmosphere and, above anything else, the best thematic endboss I’ve encountered to date in PFS. There’s plenty of role-playing options that could lead to hilarious and or scary results.
Normally I’d continue with a wall of text here going over details, but in this case I think it suffices to say that this is the best scenario I’ve played to date. My mind is still blown. I hope yours will soon be too.
Combines with two parts, relaxing intro but soon turns into adulthood scenes.
I love the horrify sci-fi setting, but the story itself is too thin, you get some weird letters, than delve into dungeon, kill BBEG and finish. Both the crazy wizard and aspis are not figured well in the scenario... I wish there are CSI investigations and dark stories but not well enough (compare with Godmarket and Mauler, two of my favorite)
Good settings, good combats, much RP moment, but it should be much better as a sanctioned module.
I've only played a handful of Larry Wilhelm scenarios so far, but with this one I'm sure he's my favourite PFS author. This scenario absolutely aces it on theme and atmosphere, and I'd like to see more of this. Forgotten Koor, also a Wilhelm gem, was very much like this, which is also in my top 5 favourite scenarios so far. Koor had a wonderful Arabian Night feeling about it, but I've never felt this scared in an adventure, and I loved it.
As said, the theme was amazing, but the story could use a little bit more improvement. Our GM made some handouts to flesh out the story a bit, and they really helped make the scenario pop. I really loved the final encounter, with a boss that isn't just a moustache-twirling villain, but has an actual reason for being what he is. I loved the fact that we got an insight in the psychology of the villain, something that isn't often explored. Most of the time, it's just assumed the villain's evil just because he can, but this one's different.
Fights are pretty tough, especially the final encounter. Be sure to bring along your best. The middle wavers a bit, which is fine (I don't need to be scared all the time), but the first and final encounter were certainly standouts. Final encounter was maybe a bit tougher than was necessary, with a big map and difficult terrain, but it wasn't a deal-breaker.
In short, I have only nitpicks about this scenario. Absolutely recommended.
This scenario really pushes the envelope in coming up with BBEGs that you will remember. BBEG's got a great backstory that you gradually find out about even as you start to realize you're walking into a very very nasty encounter.
I notice that this scenario only gets rave reviews, which is unusual for a scenario with a final encounter that's this deadly. I heartily agree though; the encounter is hard but winnable. But you really need to be on top of your tactics, have backup plans and have ways to deal with the nasty stuff that your enemies will throw at you. Even on the low tier, you need to deal with nasty stuff that you usually don't run into until a few levels later.
Each of the encounters takes place in a cool location. You run into a lot of interesting enemies. The investigation part of this scenario is a bit easy, I think that sensible people are pretty much guaranteed to get that part right. There's not a lot of RP either. The scenario uses its time budget mostly for building atmosphere (very well done) and to do the BBEG.
In summary: play this scenario if you like very dangerous and challenging combats with a good story around it.
I've been fascinated by the concept of the Golemworks since 2007! I thought they'd remain forever an obscure footnote (like the magesmiths). It's awesome to see this idea explored!
I like this module. It has a unique flavour and feel with some good RP opportunities.
A little bit of pedantry, though. I noticed a typo. On page 16: in section C4 I think the word "allies" should read "alleys". Also the first paragraph on page 19 seems to contain a superfluous sentence fragment, likely an artifact from an earlier draft.
Played this yesterday with a really talented GM. Loved it, we ran out of time so ended up skipping the optional encounter. We played up and I thought the last fight was great and really challenging. The last map is exceptionally cool and well geared to the BBEG.
We nearly had a TPK in this scenario, playing with four players at the low end of the module. As it was two characters (levels four to five witch and wizard) were killed by a spell that is pretty much a death sentence at that level for those types of characters (and it is the first spell out of the gate for the BBEG at the end).
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